


Not In The Absence of Violence

by Not_Crazy_Just_a_Fangirl



Series: Companion Stories - Luthors and Kryptonians [4]
Category: Smallville, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 06:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11685738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_Crazy_Just_a_Fangirl/pseuds/Not_Crazy_Just_a_Fangirl
Summary: Kara Danvers becomes Supergirl.To Lex, it feels like all his worst nightmares coming true.





	Not In The Absence of Violence

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Richard Siken's poem "Snow and Dirty Rain", the exact quote I'm referencing is:   
> “We have not touched the stars,  
> nor are we forgiven, which brings us back  
> to the hero’s shoulders and the gentleness that comes,  
> not from the absence of violence, but despite  
> the abundance of it.”
> 
> Most of his poetry could fit Lex and Clark's relationship in the Smallville canon.
> 
> Lex's characterization mostly from Smallville, the rest a mix of canon from Smallville and Supergirl (2015).

Lex remembers Kara Zol-El's arrival on Earth.

He also remembers Clark's pure, unadulterated panic.

They were still caught in a limbo then, not quite friends anymore, not after everything, but not quite enemies yet either. (Some days, he still can't reconcile the image of his once-best-friend Clark Kent with the menace known as Superman. But that's a different story.)

Kara Zol-El arrives in Smallville, and all Lex can think is "This is exactly the sort of thing I was afraid of". Because Clark is good at playing human. All stuttering awkwardness, all-American-farm-boy Clark Kent, could never  _really_ be dangerous. But this girl, a girl who can't speak English (though she catches on quick), and can't control her powers. Too strong, too fast, (too scared and scarred because this girl is 13 and has just watched her planet burn and has arrived to find nothing she expected), too dangerous to comprehend. She can't control her speed, or strength, or eyes. She will hurt someone, Lex thinks, without even meaning to, because she doesn't understand humanity. She's just a kid - but that doesn't mean she isn't the beginning of the end. 

Lex was never scared of Clark-Kent-Turned-Superman, he was scared of how easier it was to be fooled. If his best friend could keep his alien powers a secret, what could the next, not-so-wholesome alien do? Lex only ever wanted to protect the humans from the threats they couldn't perceive, same as Clark, he doesn't know why that makes him evil. (And if he went a little insane, well, thats entirely Clark's fault for making him feel like he was).

 

* * *

Kara Zor-El becomes Kara Danvers.

Lex Luthor is considered Superman's greatest rival, and yet, he holds not one but two secret identities in his hands. (He never reveal them, even before they lock him up, if he were anyone else that would mean something important). Eventually, Superman locks him up, but not before little Kara Zor-El (she can't be Danvers when she's flying) comes to find him. He doesn't understand why, but she's crying and screaming, not entirely in English, but he gets the gist of it. The Clark doesn't want her or his heritage, he wants to be Earth's hero but wants nothing of Krypton. He doesn't want to be responsible for a traumatized 13 year old girl, so he dropped her off with the Danvers and left. Lex Luthor was once his friend, she points out. What happened?

Lex thinks, what happened indeed. Because he's the bad guy, but he's the one comforting a crying girl, because the hero didn't know how to explain himself. Story of his life, Lex thinks. This is what he's afraid of: In trying to be a hero, Clark will one day break something he can't fix. One day, it'll be something worse than a heart.

* * *

 

Kara Danvers becomes Supergirl.

To Lex, it feels like all his worst nightmares coming true.

Superman started something, revealed aliens to the world. Its only a matter of time before things start falling out of place. Clark's arrival brings Kryptonite that poisons the people of Smallville. Aliens, less heroic ones, come out of the woodwork after Kara. Ten years down the line, after Kara arrives, Superman has all but forgotten Smallville, Lex Luthor is rotting in a cell, and Supergirl is on the rise.

Soon, Lex thinks, they'll all see exactly what he foresaw all those years ago.

* * *

 

Supergirl saves Lena. Time and time again.

Lena comes to visit, like she always does. And comes bearing tales of a new friend, a reporter named Kara Danvers, who believes in the Luthor name.

Lex's blood runs cold.

There is no way this ends well.

It never did before.

 


End file.
